


Under the Aurora of Kraydah

by Lunarium



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Galra Empire, Injury, M/M, Pre-Canon, Winter, blade of marmora
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-29 09:53:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17805812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunarium/pseuds/Lunarium
Summary: Commander Thace is sent to investigate and assassinate a Galra suspected of going rogue against the Galra Empire. Pre-canon, pre-BoM Thace.





	Under the Aurora of Kraydah

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Thulaz zine, [The Fight We Take](https://galrashipzine.tumblr.com/post/182029982712/its-finally-here-90-pages-of-thulaz-content)! 
> 
> Thank you to Zeynon for looking this over! <3

The planet and its moon, both obscured by icy clouds, loomed onto his dashboard. The iron-hearted commander furrowed his brows and his nostrils flared, ready for the brutal hunt, the fight, and possibly, should things come down to it, death. 

He was tasked to come here after Haggar had sensed a Galra on the planet without authority. Even more, a nuclear site was said to be located here, and the emperor’s witch suspected some foul play could come from this. A traitor to the empire? Or was this all part of some bigger plan? Either way, Commander Thace would find them and destroy them. There was no need to send out an entire Galra fleet. One man was always entrusted to the task, and such missions were familiar to Commander Thace. Traitors among those daring to rise against the empire who had come to colonize and bring them stability, Galra who have gone rogue, foot soldiers who had once proclaimed allegiance to Emperor Zarkon getting cold feet on their first day out on the field—Thace always found them. They always paid the price. 

He set his course for the planet—he will reach Kraydah’s atmosphere in a few more doboshes—and turned to check on the gauge of his laser gun when suddenly one of the engines spluttered. 

Gripping the yoke with one hand as the other frantically pressed buttons on the screens flashing across his dashboard, the effort to reduce the system failure of his craft was futile, and his ship plunged towards the planet. As the icy tundra of Kraydah drew ever nearer, his mind drew back to the rogue Galra: had he been the reason his fighter malfunctioned? Had he somehow shot him down in that moment Thace had turned his back from the dashboard? 

His grip on the yoke tightened as his eyes flared red with fury. Should he survive this, he vowed as his fighter dove past a sea of clouds, should he live, he will find that rogue Galra and have him taste death.  

*

“Steady, you do not wish to reopen your wounds.”

The command came gentle yet firm; a hand was on his upper arm as he came to. Thace’s eyes shot open to a cave, lit only by a campfire nearby. His sides ached with a dull deep pain whenever he moved; even a deep intake of breath would trigger a pain that would render him unable to move, even breathe. With a sudden horrified thought he realized he was at the mercy of whoever had rescued him. 

“You’re awake.” 

His savior loomed into view; a Galra man like himself but taller and thinner; his head was smooth save for a line of white that ran down the middle. The robes, Thace realized after his eyes readjusted to the dimness, was long and dark purple, almost black: a monk. 

The monk smiled grimly and offered him a bowl. 

“Might be best if you let me feed you. Your shoulder was badly injured, and some debris had impaled through your side; they missed your liver by an inch!” His smile was probably either meant to patronize or disarm him. 

He extended out a long, thin hand to him. “Would you like me to help you?”    

Thace shot up. “I can do it myse— _ARG!_ ” 

The man shook his head. “Here.” When Thace refused, the corners of the man’s lips perked up in amusement. “You were far more cooperative while you were out. I know you are not in full disagreement to being healed, my friend.” 

“ _‘Friend’_? You’re Ulaz, are you not?” Thace spat. “Then why do you not kill me? I am injured. I am vulnerable. I am at your mercy. Why go through all this…effort, this facade of kindness?” 

“Facade of kindness? I do no such thing,” Ulaz said. “You have not hurt neither myself nor any of the Kraydians. There is no reason to put on a facade. Everything I tell you, Commander Thace, comes from my heart.”

He had not meant to react at hearing his own name on his enemy’s tongue, but it was too late to prevent the flinch. Ulaz smiled. 

“Another thing you did not mind sharing with me while you were unconscious: your name. You were a far more agreeable company while you were down, friend.”  

Thace decided to ignore the constant insistence to call him _‘friend’_. “Why did you shoot my fighter down?” 

At that Ulaz’s eyebrows went up. “You believe your fighter’s malfunctioning was at the result of my hand?”

“Do not play stupid with me!” 

“What weapon would I have used?” 

He motioned with his hand, and Thace saw for himself: the cave itself was completely bare. Ulaz lived as humbly as a real monk would. “And why would I shoot a ship down without knowing who was inside it first? You had not made any show that you were hostile.”

Thace’s nostrils flared. 

“Although I do wonder why anyone would come,” Ulaz went on. “This planet hardly gets any visitors, although your company does please me. Even if you are being a little hostile towards me right now.” 

Thace’s eyes narrowed. He glanced out of the mouth of the cave, or what little he could see from his vantage point. 

“What of the nuclear site?” 

“Ah, that,” Ulaz said with a sad tilt to his voice. “Is that why they have sent you to murder me? They think I am using it for some nefarious purposes? That poor, paranoid emperor.” 

Seeing no point in denying the reason for his visit, but also choosing to ignore the slander against the emperor in need for intel— _I will have your head for this!_ —Thace nodded.  

“I have been guarding the site and keeping it neutral. Although its eventual doom on the natives of this world is imminent, even if it doesn’t undergo a meltdown. We have not harvested the nuclear core for power; nor do we have any technology to interface with the core. My own communications with the…ah, brotherhood…had ceased long ago, preventing me in requesting aid for any illness the core has created among the civilians. I could not leave the planet myself after my work was done, so instead I made it my duty to remain with the natives, learn from them, work with them, and work _for_ them.” 

“Then why did you come here in the first place?” Thace asked. 

Ulaz’s face softened as he peered out. “This is not our first time meeting the Kraydians. We have learned much from them for many deca-phoebs.” He shifted, giving Thace a view of the cave wall opposite, on which was an illustration of a head with three circles for eyes.

“The Kraydian eyes,” Ulaz said. “When they see through the bottom two eyes, they walk this realm. When they see through only the top middle, they walk in the realm of dreams.” 

“And when they peer from all three?” 

“Then they have obtained knowledge,” Ulaz said. “Some among my brotherhood have adopted their belief, including Razer who had first founded the brotherhood. ‘Knowledge or death’ are the words we live by.” 

Thace chuckled grimly. “So your kind does not believe they can become victorious.” 

“Victory is not as important as the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom, Commander Thace. Gaining knowledge is a victory on its own.”

“And what is this brotherhood you speak of? You mentioned a Razer.”

Ulaz gave a nod but did not answer right away.    

“Though you have given good reason to suggest you had not attempted to kill me, you have incidentally admitted to one thing: you have turned traitor against the empire. I never heard of this brotherhood; who or what are they? Their very existence must be a threat against the emperor. Who is your leader and why do you take order from him and not Emperor Zarkon?” 

“I do not take orders in the same way you take yours,” Ulaz said calmly. “Tell me, Thace, do you let others dictate your every move? Your every thought?” 

“Emperor Zarkon brings order to the universe!” 

“Perhaps,” Ulaz said. “But what good is order at the expense of one’s own free will? We once thought expanding our rule over the universe would bring stability, but at what cost? We have another world we can build a new home: Feyiv. I was once a disciple for The Archivist. But no Galra under command of the emperor would take our own sacred grounds as their new home. The heavens were theirs, and so were the lands of others. They forsook perfectly useable land for conquest! 

“That, I cannot accept as my own belief, good friend.” 

A sound that began faint and distant grew in the ensuing silence. Soft and strangely warm in the chill air, it sent shivers down Thace’s spine. 

“What is that?” he asked, distracted.

Ulaz smiled. “Come with me. I will show you.” 

Ulaz helped Thace up with the kindness Thace neither expected nor thought Ulaz should display to an enemy, then he led him towards the mouth of the cave. They stepped into a wide precipice; the dark skies dotted by a bright blue moon and stars, and overhead swimming like the waves of sea, was a rainbow-hued aurora. 

Far beneath the aurora, a distance away but still close enough for Thace to make out the figures, a line of the three-eyed native Kraydians marched on the snow. They each held a small lit orb in their palms; the orbs glowed beautifully and the colors within swirled as if the Kraydians’ song gave them life. 

“These are the Kraydians, and they sing for the winter blessing,” Ulaz explained. “They believe the gods are traveling through the Rainbow Sea-sky above them, and they are giving their gratitude for the life they were given. Some will come with prayers who those who are ill or dying. Some will wish for new love or new clothes. They are a humble people and have little that would interest Zarkon. They do wish to bother him.”  

Thace looked around. Save for his own fighter, they were alone. No sign of anything Ulaz could have used to shoot his fighter down. He really was telling the truth. The land stretched snowy and cold, free of any weapons or anything that would mark Kraydah as an active enemy to the empire. The cause of Thace’s fighter crashing was, truly, just a malfunction. 

And the song; the song filled him with warmth. 

“It’s beautiful,” he found himself saying, reluctantly. “I do not wish to impose my presence on you, but…”

“You have come to kill me,” Ulaz said. “You must honor your mission. Victory or death is the Galra way.” 

Thace spluttered. Perhaps there was some sort of magic in the song of Kraydians, some sort of magic or power behind their prayers mixing in his head, or something about the way Ulaz said those words, as if just resigning himself to his fate, but Thace’s heart clenched painfully, suddenly struck by how callously _cruel_ his mission was. He turned back to his fighter. 

“I will delay your death. There is no sense in me killing you now and then being alone here until my fighter is fixed.”

*

_“This is Commander Thace to Central Command. I have reached Kraydah. My ship has crash-landed. The atmosphere reacted violently with my engine. Do not send in backup. I am currently in the middle of fixing my engine. I should be able to complete the mission in a few quintants.”_

Thace set the communicator down and groaned painfully; blood seeped through the bandages. As he staggered out of the fighter, he noted that Ulaz was sitting several paces away. He would have thought the man would sit closer, at least to overhear. Did he not at least mistrust Thace a little? 

“Have your wounds reopened?” Ulaz asked and approached him. He knelt and studied his wound with such care Thace had only seen once before, a rare moment, by his own mother many, many deca-phoebs ago. 

“Sit back inside,” Ulaz said. “Sleep. I’ll redress your wound.” 

Thace didn’t think he could sleep again, but the continual chanting from outside, and the dim lights of the flickering campfire, mingled with the scent of the balm Ulaz kneaded next to him, lulled him back to tranquil unconsciousness. 

He stayed with Ulaz for days, weeks, months, giving the Galra Empire fake reports on his mission the whole while. Not once Ulaz had turned against his promise; each time Thace felt worse, Ulaz healed him. He redressed his wound, gave him food, kept him company. If he left, it was only for as long as he would promise. 

The winter days and nights drew as one on Kraydah. The only way Thace knew it was night was when the Kraydians were out to give their routine prayers through the land. The image of their top eye, the third eye, kept him up. Haunted him. 

When he was feeling better, he traveled with Ulaz; under the aurora of Kraydah they collected tree branches, hunted for food—often tiny game with barely any meat on their bones—gathered berries, or met with the locals, who were far too generous for ones who possessed so little. 

Thace’s stomach constantly growled. This was far less provision than what he was accustomed to, but Ulaz never complained and always gave a prayer of thanks. Stuck between wanting to complain— _that_ was the Galra way—and finding himself too embarrassed and humbled at once to show weakness in front of the other Galra, Thace remained silent.

*

“I see you are not pleased with this way of life,” Ulaz said one morning. The sky would be, strangely enough, considered morning. For the first time the skies had lightened up to something akin to dawn. Spring must be soon approaching.

“I have grown used to it,” Thace said, “but I must confess I was not pleased by it at first.” 

Ulaz chuckled. “How did you manage?” 

Thace clicked his tongue. Should he confess this? Saying so much would be almost like betraying the empire…

Eventually, Thace gave in. “I contemplated the image on your wall. The brotherhood’s words: ‘knowledge or death.’ I sought to think like one of the Kraydians: seek clarity in this world, in my dreams, in both. I wanted to throw the bowl against your head the first time. This wasn’t enough to sustain me. My stomach grumbled and bothered me the whole night. And then I realized all my life I have been selfish; I have always taken more than what was needed. You and the Kraydians can manage on so little. In the end I was the weak one. So I worked on strengthening myself.” 

Ulaz nodded and smiled. “Then you have gained knowledge, my friend.” 

He motioned for Thace to follow him out of the cave. Wordlessly he took him past their usual route, far from their typical hunting grounds and past trees that bore little fruit. The snow below their feet stretched into hard solid ground, barren and grey. On they walked, for perhaps vargas. 

Thace’s eyes widened at the vast black core they were approaching. Lines drew throughout it, pulsing in vivid shades of violet.  

“The nuclear core,” Ulaz said. “I did not bring you here before because the core’s radiation would have made you more ill. Even from here it has a detrimental effect on the inhabitants of Kraydah, but we hope the distance would lessen its effect.” 

“How did this come about?” 

“Some reaction from Galra technology long ago with the planet’s atmosphere,” Ulaz said. “We believe a fleet was destroyed in a battle nearby, and some debris had entered the atmosphere. It has the witch’s work all over. That is why the brotherhood had sent me long ago. I tried to deactivate it. I could only neutralize it in the meantime and inform everyone to evacuate this town. I lost my own ship in the process, or I would have sought to call the brightest engineers among us.”

Thace glanced about himself, remembering the Kraydians, how little they had, their beautiful prayers and chanting of gratitude. He furrowed his brow. “I think…if this core is our doing, perhaps we can find something in my fighter to dismantle it.” 

They worked tirelessly for the next few days on the task, traveling from Thace’s fighter to the core. They used everything at their disposal to scan the core, study it, plan how to dismantle it, then execute their plan carefully. They stopped only for brief breaks. When it had seemed all effort was futile, or in rare moments when it seemed the core was about to meltdown, the light within the core finally disappeared. 

Sighs of relief escaped them, and together they took the core apart. 

“The Kraydians will no longer have to fear living here,” Ulaz said. “You have truly done something remarkable, my friend.” 

Thace’s foot scraped the dry earth. “And the planet herself will no longer suffer.” 

Ulaz smiled as they shared a gaze. “Spoken like a true Blade.”

*

Thace’s fighter had returned to Central Command with important news. He set the rogue Galra, in rags and looking like he hadn’t bathed in months, before the witch, except…he was no traitor at all.

“It appears some misunderstanding took place,” Commander Thace said sternly. “This soldier's fighter had malfunctioned, just as mine had done, upon nearing Kraydah’s atmosphere. Something about the planet reacts violently with our ships. His ship wasn’t so lucky and he had been stuck on the planet ever since. He had been living in the wilderness. The planet’s nuclear site affected the magnetic field, which in turn messed with my compass that it had taken me months to find him, as well as to nurse my own wounds from the fall. But his loyalties are to Emperor Zarkon and to him only.”  

The witch’s eyes narrowed as she studied Ulaz. “Is that so?” 

She raised up her hand and almost instantly, without mercy, pierced into his thoughts. Thace stood by silently as Haggar scanned through Ulaz, her eyes narrowing. 

“He speaks the truth,” she said at last. 

Ulaz brought his fist to his chest and bowed before the witch. “I fight in the name of Galra.”

She turned to a few Galra guards standing nearby. “Have him bathed and properly dressed!” 

A varga later, Thace entered Ulaz’s new headquarters. 

“I hope you didn’t mind me dragging you through mud like that,” he said. “That was the only planet I could find between the headquarters and here.” 

Ulaz chuckled. “Anything to fool the witch. I simply could not go in looking all freshened up after seeing Kolivan and the old gang again.” 

He studied Thace for a moment and smiled. “Our colors looked really well on you. The empire’s colors are too dour.” 

Taken aback, Thace’s coughed in vain hope of it dissipating the heat that pricked his cheeks. Ulaz approached and placed his hands on Thace’s hips while their foreheads touched. 

“Thank you, for everything,” Thace said. “You’ve shown me the right path.” 

“You’ve chosen the path yourself,” Ulaz said. “I am happy we are both on the same side. I do not wish to hurt you. Also, your blade suits you well! Of course, I knew it would. I had forged it myself.” 

Thace smirked. “You have many talents.” 

“And many more to show you,” Ulaz said before giving him a quick kiss to the lips and breaking away. His smiled teasingly back at Thace as he made for the door; his voice drew comically colder. “I will see you later on the bridge, commander. Vrepit Sa!”

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [knowledge or death (the north star remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19135186) by [ailurea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ailurea/pseuds/ailurea)




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